No One Better Than Ezra

The good folks at The Western Standard have compiled their Top 100 Canadians for liberty for the year 2008, starting with this top-25 tranche. Clocking in at numero uno (that's Canadian for "Chief Moose") is Ezra Levant. Explainer:

The issue that dominated 2008 for the freedom movement was the attack on freedom of speech and expression by human rights commissions across Canada, and Ezra Levant was at the centre of this issue as a pro-free speech newsmaker, advocate, lawyer and blogger. Levant is pushing back against Canada's human rights commissions with his new book "Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights." Levant's single-minded defence of free speech in 2008 makes him the Western Standard's choice for the #1 spot on our Liberty 100 list. Levant is the former publisher of the Western Standard.

Jacob Sullum on Levant here.

Comments

Tumbleweed | January 6, 2009, 10:36am | #

*rolls through thread*

Dagny T. | January 6, 2009, 10:37am | #

I must be a terrible Canadian, because I've only heard of a handful of those names.

Nice to see Mark Emery made the cut, though.

Pro Libertate | January 6, 2009, 10:49am | #

Free Canada!

Abdul | January 6, 2009, 11:18am | #

Western Standard picks its own former publisher as best defender of freedom? That reminds me of when Conflict of Interest Magazine picked its former publisher as biggest conflict of interest of 1997.

Smappy | January 6, 2009, 11:21am | #

I'd say Levant deserves the honor, conflict of interest or no. The videos of him talking to that bureaucrat should be required viewing in all schools everywhere.

Abdul | January 6, 2009, 11:45am | #

Smappy,

I was kidding a little bit. There's no question that Levant called a lot of attention to a serious threat to free speech in Canada.

R C Dean | January 6, 2009, 11:47am | #

I'd say Levant deserves the honor, conflict of interest or no.

Hear, hear. You simply could not make up the total clusterfuck that is the Canadian human rights commission.

Daze | January 6, 2009, 11:57am | #

And #3 is a Weekly Standard columnist, and #5 is the current editor.

Maybe they're all deserving choices, but it comes across as clubbish.

Pham Newen | January 6, 2009, 12:27pm | #

pffft Ezra is a lot of things, but a friend of freedom isn't one of them. His battle for 'free speech' is incidental at best.

He is more than willing to club people over the head for holding any viewpoint he doesn't personally hold.

This is hardly worth anyones notice let alone 'Reason'able people.

Jordan | January 6, 2009, 12:32pm | #

He is more than willing to club people over the head for holding any viewpoint he doesn't personally hold.

By "club", do you mean criticize? Can you produce a single instance of Levant calling for the government to silence someone?

alan | January 6, 2009, 12:32pm | #

Read the headline and for some Reason I have this horrible tune in my head that I have not even thought about in a decade or so, thanks Matt, thanks a lot.

bendover | January 6, 2009, 1:08pm | #

alan - "nobody does it better...."

J sub D | January 6, 2009, 1:15pm | #

pffft Ezra is a lot of things, but a friend of freedom isn't one of them. His battle for 'free speech' is incidental at best.

He is more than willing to club people over the head for holding any viewpoint he doesn't personally hold.

He has prosecuted/suppressed or advocated prosecution/supression of how many who offended or disagreed with him?

J sub D | January 6, 2009, 1:16pm | #

I see Jordan beat me to it.

Egosumabbas | January 6, 2009, 2:01pm | #

Watch the videos of Ezra Levant grilling the Alberta bureaucrat on youtube. They are absolutely amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/EzraILevant

The lawyer/bureaucrat/nanny interviewing him is Shirley McGovern, and she's totally outclassed rhetoric-wise.

Matthew | January 6, 2009, 2:18pm | #

Mark Steyn should also be mentioned--he and his supporters providing a running (and often hilarious) commentary on the whole Human Rights Commissions stuff.

Poutine eater | January 6, 2009, 6:44pm | #

I wouldn't have put the president of the Canadian Coalition for Democracies on that list. To its credit, the CDC have been critics of radical Islam, but they're also apologists for anything and everything done by a democracy in opposition to a non-democracy. For example, Israel.

Also, Rona Ambrose, wtf.

Jacob T. Levy | January 6, 2009, 9:27pm | #

Hey, I'm on the list! Had no idea. Thanks for the link.